The Prophecy
by Stinkoi
Summary: A prophecy has been made for the future heir of Voldemort. The heir will come from a very powerful pureblood, but will also hold the heritage of a mudblood like Voldemort himself. Please Read and Review!
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

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The night outside was a cold yet quiet night. People were snuggled up nice and warm in there house, but for those who had no home to call their own, found sanctuary in the closest pub, keeping their own business to themselves.

A small man was seated in the darkest corner of the Hogs Head, a hood hiding his face as trying to keep it from the public, though the entire pub was empty. Terrible thoughts were rushing through his head, for he shouldn't of been there. The past couple of months had been hard for him, for he had failed his Master numerous times, and felt that his life will be put to a tragic end, if he doesn't come up with something useful to make his Master proud.

The tinkle of a bell ran through the atmosphere, diminishing silence, and distracting the only customer to look up. A lady entered who had the resemblance of a big black spider. She had several shawls draped across her body, which gave her a much more daggier look. A lot of bangles and jewellery hung from her hands and neck, which jingled whenever she moved.

She looked around the old and dirty bar, and realised she was the only person here. She took a seat at the front of the bar and waited for the barman to come and attend to her. After a few minutes of waiting, no one came.

"Butter Bear please" came the misty voice from the 2nd customer of the day.

There was a few crashes behind the bar, and the barman popped his angry face out. He slid her butter bear on the counter, and it stopped in front of this new comer. He went back to what he was doing and shut the door behind the counter.

The hooded figure found this stranger somehow interesting, for something from her presence made him feel that he was suppose to be there at that moment, but he couldn't quite put his foot on it. Not wanting to move, he sat there silent, and felt maybe he was wasting his time by putting faith in a stranger, who, for a fact, looked so lost within herself. All in all, he had nothing else to do with his night, and tried to relax a bit more, but found it impossible. He looked towards the stranger again, and wasn't sure why she held such a strong presence. After staring at her contently, she suddenly dropped the Butter Bear she was holding. Her arms fell to her side and her head rolled back. The hooded figure quickly ran to the stranger to see if she was alright and when he reached her, her misty voice started to sound.

"The heir of the Dark Lord will be the next powerful figure to both good and evil. His father will be a pureblood - the wealthiest of all, and His mother will be muggleborn, - the most smartest of all."

With that, she jerked out of her trance and eyed curiously the hooded figure stranding near her.

"What you looking at?" she said in an almost annoyed voice.

The hooded figure backed away slowly, trying to register what just happened. He stumbled back out the door, leaving an irritated lady along with a cheesed off barman who hadn't got his money for the drink.

The hooded figure glided as fast as possible along the dark streets of Diagon Alley. When he reached the edges of the Dark Forest, he slipped in unnoticeably with a huge smiled plastered on his face.

"This could be it" he said to himself, and gave himself a small chuckle. "Perfect timing!"

A couple minutes walking fast through the forest, he reached a very small abandoned cabin. It's windows had cracks in it and no lights showed any detail that someone was living there at all. He opened the front door quietly, which led him to a steep spiral case that led down. It was very dark, but his feet led the way down the stairs. A small light flickered off the walls. It started to get hot down here, because although on the outside it looked like a cabin, inside, was a hidden dungeon. He walked and walked, until he reached a large richly made room. The walls were cover in a dark green, and statures of snakes were plastered all over the room. There was a huge round table situated in the middle of the room, and the dark mark engraved directly in the middle of the table. Several others were seated around the table, though two seats were not filled. One belonged to this hooded figure, and the other to his …

"Master!" came the squeaky voice. The obvious pride he held while running through the dark forest had completely diminished.

"Your late Wormtail" came a dark and cold voice. A tall figure was standing with his back turned.

"I have excellent news Master!"

His Master turned around to show his face. His face was not normal at all. His eyes had slits and definitely did not look human at all. Wormtail cowered back a little bit, while his Master looked deep into his eyes. His Master gave a quick nod, accepting his offer of 'excellent news'.

Wormtail explained everything that had happened. When he reached the bit 'His father will be a pureblood - the most wealthiest of all', they all looked towards a quite handsome older male. He had pure white hair, along with steel grey eyes that looked like they could kill. His face expression stayed calm.

"My son will not wed a filthy mudblood." Came his calm and steely voice.

The Dark Lord moved towards this person and gestured for the person sitting next to him to move. The Dark Lord sat in his place.

"Lucious, my dear friend, we've got to understand the circumstances." Came the Dark Lords slithering voice. "If this prophecy is to be treated truly, we must sacrifice. But just think about it, a Malfoy, the heir to Lord Voldemort!"

The Dark Lord looked sincere this moment to run through his thoughts.

"He wouldn't have to stay with her forever I suppose." He said in an almost childish way. Power had always meant a lot to the Malfoy family. He cleared his mind, and focused all his thinking towards his future grandson. "He would be the next powerful being in the world ..." Lucius' voice trailed off, deep in thought, as if it had just registered into his mind.

"Exactly!" Came the Dark Lords voice. He looked very triumphant at that moment. For he felt that everything was in his power now. Nothing could go wrong until –

"Hermione Granger!" Came a rough whisper from Lucius. He said this name with such disgust, that he couldn't believe he had even said it. His thoughts were running mad around his head. "Only the best for a Malfoy" he thought. "She is quite smart, and intelligent. Beautiful in her own way … but the blood" he couldn't get that thought out of his head. "But she's the only one … The best one .."

"She is the best one" came the Dark Lords voice, almost reading Lucious' mind. "I have met her once before, back in her first year. Even at that age, she could level with the Third Year students at Hogwarts. It's got to be her! There's no one else!." His voice sounded final.


	2. Surprising News

"Granger?" thought Draco to himself. He was sitting in his large spacious room at the Malfoy Manner, sinking in his little talk he just had with his father.

- FlAsHbAcK

"Draco, could you please come down!" Narcissa's voice came gliding through the Malfoy Manner. "Your Father is home!"

Draco slowly walked down the stairs from his room and entered the lounging room.

"Hello Father" came his voice, a little tense than he expected. He strode over to his father, and putting a professional hand out, shook his hand. He usually found it difficult to talk to his father. His father definitely made himself a role model for Draco, and did the best for Draco by teaching him 'the tricks of the trade'. But sometimes, Draco wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do. He definitely didn't want to become a Death Eater, and he also didn't want to become a typical Auror, who actually hunted death eaters, so he was a little stuck between worlds, which depressed him, and make him wonder why he had to think so differently from other people, and just accept, that he, like his well known wealthy father, will become a death eater. 

"Sit." his father ordered, and with that, Draco took a seat across from his father. His father eyed him very closely. "You're a very handsome young man, Draco."

Draco found himself blushing. He didn't think of this as a comment and found it rather embarrassing. He looked towards his mother, and she was smiling a somewhat evil, yet hungry look.

"Err … Thank you Father." Draco's voice seemed a little embarrassed.

Lucius sat back in his chair, relaxing, although deep in thought, trying to manage how to say what he needed to say in a clear, but cool manner. 

"This is your last year at Hogwarts."

Draco nodded.

"Head boy as well! Very proud of you son." Lucious gave a superior smile. "You've got to be the smartest boy in the school!" It was strange to hear his father call him 'son'. It wasn't a common word that was brought up in a Malfoy conversation. They tended to keep things more formal to show that they were capable of living independently and didn't need to rely on anyone. 

"Though, a lot of people seem to think I pay for my marks." Said Draco, remembering all the taunting remarks he would get from the filthy Gryffindors.

Ignoring this, Lucious went on. "You are due to wed soon."

Draco shot a quick glance at his father.

Draco thought back to his last conversation with his father. "Pansy Parkinson". Draco shuddered at the thought. He didn't mind being betrothed to someone, but Pansy Parkinson. Draco always thought of her as so typical. Although she had the looks, he didn't want a wife who managed to have a crush on every Slytherin that walked past her. A Malfoy was much more higher class than that. 

"There has actually been a change of plans." Came Lucius' voice, distracting Draco from his thoughts. Lucius eyed Draco carefully. Watching his every face expression, to distinguish his every thought.

"A change?" Asked Draco somewhat confused. "Is that possible?" Once someone was betrothed, they were bound to each other for the rest of their life.

"It's the Dark Lords request." Lucius' voice was very serious now. "Draco, do you believe in prophecy's?"

"Of course I do Father!" Said Draco.

"Would you believe us, if we were to say, that one was made for you?"

Draco thought about what he had just said. He had never thought of a prophecy being made for him. He didn't really like the thought of himself being forced into fate. Wouldn't that mean, that you can't even control your own life?

"Then I would believe you." Draco's reply had been very slow. He looked towards the fire that was burning in the fireplace, not wanting to look towards his father. He was expecting that his father was going to go on about death until -

"Hermione Granger." At the sound of that name, Draco looked directly at his Father.

"Hermione Granger?" Asked a very confused Draco.

"She would have to be the most smartest witch at Hogwarts, is she not?" Asked Lucius matter-of-factly.

"Yes" sighed Draco. She had always been ahead of Draco no matter how hard he tried. So smart, intelligent and …

"Beautiful, wouldn't you say?"

Draco looked at his Father in a shocked state. What was he suppose to say? What was his father implying? If he said "yes" than his father would consider him a traitor, but then again, her beauty is quite obvious, so if he said "No", then his father would consider him a liar.

"I guess so …" Draco's voice trailed off and was hoping he gave his father the right answer, whatever that might be.

"The heir of the Dark Lord will be the next powerful figure to both good and evil. His father will be a pureblood - the wealthiest of all, and His mother will be muggleborn, - the smartest of all." Lucius sounded as though he was reading from a book. Lucius took this chance to look directly as his son. Draco's face expression showed confusion as if he was just playing a character in a dream. "A prophecy has been made and planted for you. It's your fate, your destiny."

Lucius thought that Draco would rant in range and not believing what he had heard, but to his surprise he sat there, stunned and silent.

"To think, a Malfoy, the most powerful being in the world!" This voice came from his Mother Narcissa. His mother had always been attracted to power, though not enough to drive her to a Death-Eater, but enough to lead her to her present husband.  
It was quite a shock when he heard her speak, since she had stayed silent throughout the whole talk. A small glint of light shone in her eyes, as if playing the future in her mind.  
Draco saw that his father also smiled.

"Power Draco. It's all about Power! And to think, he'd be even more powerful than the Dark Lord himself. A Malfoy!" Lucius face showed triumph. "We will be the strongest pureblood family a wizard could ever see!"

Silence rang throughout the manner. Both parents were staring wildly at their only son with supremacy in their eyes. 

"Excuse me Mother, Father. I just need to lay down for a bit."

Narcissa and Lucius watched as their son walked out of view and vanish up the stairs, heading for his room.

- EnD Of FlAsHbAcK -

Draco had always found Hermione quite interesting throughout his time at Hogwarts. She was different from the other girls, more vigilant and successful. She never based her life at Hogwarts by chasing all the guys at school, but stuck to her books. These books made her intelligent, which added to her elegance. She was not an immature girl at Hogwarts, but a woman, and that's why Draco found her so amusing.

Throughout his years at Hogwarts, he never really 'liked' Hermione; there was just something about her that intrigued him. He never really thought about being with her, or to be more correct, was scared to think of her because of her blood, but the fact that he HAS to be with her, made the situation a lot easier to handle in the mind. She was full of surprises. Along with her natural beauty came her intelligence and that was very rare quality at Hogwarts.

"Damn that Weasley and Potter" thought Draco to himself. They would make it extremely difficult for Draco to speak to her, let alone even look at her! He had never got on well with King Potter and pitiable Weasley. Nearly everyone in the school seemed to look up to them both, and just the sight of them would drive Draco mad.

"This is going to be a very interesting year" he thought to himself.


	3. Trapped

Hermione waved goodbye to her Mother and Father who waved back from Platform 9 ¾. She always found it hard to leave her family, after so much they do for her, and she has to leave them for nearly the whole year. She promised herself that she would write to them as much as possible trying to share her experience in the wizarding world.

"Hey, come in here, this one's empty." Ron's voice had deepened during that summer break and for a split second, she hardly recognized it.

Hermione walked into the empty cabin and sank into its comfortable leather. She looked across to Harry. He seemed to of lost a little bit of weight during the break. His face still held the bit of sadness that has haunted his memories from the past couple of years. Hermione knew it had to be because of his only uncle, who passed away to save his life. Hermione shook her head, trying to change the topic in her mind. She rested her head back and let her mind wander. She promised herself this year that she wont let anyone (including Ron and Harry) take advantage of her intelligence. She also promised herself she wouldn't let anyone push her around, and that included a fellow Slytherin, that has seemed to taunt her since her first year at Hogwarts. Malfoy. A lot of the girls in her year found him quite attractive, although they thought this on discreet levels, making sure none of the Gryfindor boys never over heard them. But for Hermione Granger, he was just an arrogant prat who thought he was better than everyone else because of his wealth and especially blood. Hermione was pushed out of her thoughts when a familiar red head opened the cabin door.

"Ginny!" Hermione jumped from her seat and gave her best friend a hug.

"Hey Hermione. Long time no see, I've missed you so much!" Ginny hugged her back, squeezing every bit of life out of her.

Hermione gave a soft laugh and let her friend go. She sat back in her seat and watched as Ginny sunk into a deep meaningful talk with Harry. Ginny always seemed to make Harry happy, and when Harry was happy, Hermione was happy. She gave a little chuckle to herself while she imagined Ginny dressed in all white, saying "I do" to the love of her life.

"What are you laughing at?" Came Ron's gruff voice.

Hermione smiled again, and thought better not to share her recent thoughts with her best friends, to save the embarrassment.

"Nothing. Just promising myself that I'm going to make this year the best year ever!" Hermione looked towards Harry, and saw that he gave a weak smile, like it was impossible.

"Just because your head girl, doesn't mean everyone else is going to have The best year ever!." Ginny pointed towards her badge.

Hermione gave a proud smile. "Just to let you know, I worked very hard for this badge!"

"Of course you did darling." Said Ginny in a mock Mrs. Weasley voice.

Everyone laughed at that and began once again into their conversations. Neville and Luna walked in together not long after. Up to their 5th year, Neville had always been such a nervous little nerd, and it made Hermione proud to see his confidence grow over the past year. It also made Harry very proud to. Neville grew into a very tall and quite handsome young fellow. His stance was directly vertical, which showed his tallness and his eyes were no longer timid, but determined. Neville seemed to have made his way through to the circle of trust, and became even closer to Ron and Harry. A lot of the girls started to notice him more, but he had eyes for only one person. Luna.  
Hermione let out a little laugh when she saw Luna holding yet another one of her fathers Quibblers upside down. Everyone looked towards her, and knowing that her answer would completely confuse them even more, gave a small laugh and returned back to their conversations.  
Hermione began to lose her thought once again, until the opening of the cabin door opened loudly.

"Get out!" Came Ron's growling voice. Ron began to stand up but Ginny held him back down, knowing that trouble would start if she let him stand.

"Now now Weasley! That's not how you talk to the Head Boy."

To hear that, came to a complete shock to Hermione, for she never gave any great thought on who the Head Boy would be. And for it to be Malfoy, made it even worse.

"Great." Sighed Hermione under her breath. Her recent promises of making this the best year ever slowly faded into the small particles of her mind, depressing her even more.

"The Head Girl and Myself need to organize the passwords for the houses." Malfoy looked towards Hermione. She tried to sense out any suspicious tones in his voice, but only found innocence (though she found it very hard for a Slytherin to have any innocence what so ever). She found herself getting up and walked outside the cabin.

"So how have you been Granger?" Draco walked behind her, and she could feel his eyes sinking in the image just before him. Hermione decided to ignore his question and walked on. She did not want to associate with the one who seemed to of made her precious time at Hogwarts a misery.

"Granger? Are you deaf? I asked you a question." Malfoy decided to retrieve her attention by putting his hand on her shoulder. To his surprise, she jumped, as though a huge spider had landed there. Hermione looked at his hand on her shoulder and looked at him in disgust.

"What are you playing at?" For some reason anger was boiling. Like she had promised before, she was not going to put up with his crap at all this year, and for a start, had to act tough.

"Excuse me, I was showing some kindness by asking a simple question." His voice showed no hurt, but let a smirk play across his face. Hermione decided to keep on. She wasn't sure where she was suppose to be going.  
She noticed the footsteps behind her had stopped.

"In here." Malfoy's voice showed direction. She stepped in slowly into a small, yet very well furnished cabin. "Take a seat."

Malfoy lounged happily on one of the cabin sofas, and watched with interested while he saw that Hermione seemed to be having a mental debate to decide whether she sit, or just take off. She ended up taking a seat very slowly and made sure she didn't take her eyes off of her enemy.

As she looked around the cabin, thoughts started to run around her head. A huge weight felt like it was sinking deeply into her mind. She started to feel ridiculous that she never picked this up sooner.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Hermione decided to show no fear, and made sure her voice sounded lazy, almost bored.

"What do you ever so mean?" A playful smile erupted from his face.

"Heads don't make the passwords, the prefects do."

"I have to say I'm quite disappointed Granger. It took you this long to pick that up. My, my … And they say you're the smartest witch of our age!" Malfoy let out an almost humorous laugh. He found it very intriguing to find her put in this situation.

"If you don't mind …" Hermione stood up and looked towards Malfoy. He still had a smile on his face which made her feel very uncomfortable, like he had been planning this all along. She walked towards to the cabin door and found that it was locked. She suddenly felt like running around the cabin screaming like a chicken with it's head cut off, but decided to handle it in the most womanly way possible. She sat back down.  
Malfoy gave an even wider smile.

"That's a girl." It almost sounded as if he was talking to a pet.

Hermione decided to repeat what was running through her head, a million times an hour. "What do you want?"

"Well, we are head boy and girl. We'll be spending most of the year together, in fact, even sharing a dorm." Malfoy found it very interesting to see how Hermione would get out in a situation like this. She was very beautiful and intelligent. It made it even better to see her squirm uncomfortably, it knocked you back to reality and reminded you that she was, behind the intelligence and beauty, that she was real and human.

"So how much did you pay for the badge? Or should I say, how much did dear Father pay?" Hermione noticed that she had hit the right spot. Malfoy's eyes narrowed, though never moving his gaze.

"I earned this badge fair and square Granger. What? Jealous?" Hermione let out a fake laugh. She was starting to get the hang of this 'being tough attitude'. She was starting to losen up a bit and felt like she was handling her territory quite well until …  
Malfoy stood up and sat only inches away from Hermione. His light grey eyes stared directly at her, and she found it almost impossible to move. She didn't want to be there and wished so much she was back in the cabin with her friends. She tried her hardest to keep her eyes at her shoes, she didn't notice until then, how interesting her shoes looked.

"So how do you do it?" Malfoy's voice came very slowly, which sounded similar to the cheesy movies she use to watch when she was younger.

Hermione decided to become that brave Gryffindor deep inside her. "Do what?" Her voice sounded more scared than was suppose to.

"Be so beautiful yet hold so much intelligence for a mud - " Draco stopped in mid words. Hermione looked towards him, hatred filling every ounce in her body. "For a muggle born." Draco decided to change his gaze and looked around the room. And awkward silence filled the room. Both seemed to be lost in thought, until there was a loud banging noise coming from the other side of the cabin door.

"Open up you bloody prat!" Ron's voice sounded angry as ever. He had always been very protective over Hermione, for she was brought in so close to his family, he felt it a duty.

"The family have decided to join us." Malfoy muttered under his breath. "I'm surprised he noticed quite faster than usual." He dragged Hermione up from where she was sitting, opened the door and pushed her outside. Before shutting the door Malfoy whispered something in her ear. "See you Hogwarts." and with that, the door slammed shut.

"Are you alright Hermione? What did he do?" Concern flooded Ron's words, and he was shaking her ever so slightly, trying to break her out of her trance.

"Nothing, the stupid git didn't do anything, just trying to scare me I guess." Hermione's voice was lost, trying to replay what had just happened, and to convince herself that this wasn't a dream. She shook it off and they walked towards their own cabin.

"This is going to be a very interesting year." She muttered to herself.


	4. Tired

Hermione walked through the halls following Professor McGonagall to their rooms. She refused to pay attention to her fellow companion, Malfoy, for he was giving silent sniggers towards her direction. Mcgonagall stopped abruptly in front of a very old door with a picture of a young boy and girl snoozing silently on a very comfortable couch.

"Your password will be 'Sugar Gums'." McGonagall's voice was stern and strict. "You are to make sure no one but yourselves enter these dorms, and patrol the halls on a nightly basis." With that, McGonagall swept away.

"Sugar Gums." Stated Hermione, and waited for the students in the portrait to wake up and let her in.

"Sugar Gums!" Came Malfoy's voice, more demanding then hers. The two students opened their eyes quickly and let the door open. Hermione decided to let Malfoy enter through the hole, for she felt a bit uncomfortable for her enemy to be facing her backside for the whole one and a half metres into the room. After climbing in, she was faced with a magnificent sight. The ceiling was similar to the one in the Great Hall, and stars hovered around the roof, which left an almost dreamy look. Right in front of them was a small waterfall, which the water came from the stars in the corner. To the left and right, there were a door each that let to their rooms. Hermione's room was on the right, for the red and gold colours of her house wrapped around binding each other to represent Gryfindor. Towards the left, green and silver did the same thing. The effect of the room was so calming, Hermione couldn't wait to see her room.

Malfoy looked towards Hermione with an almost bored look on his face. She seemed to think it was amazing at the sight in front of her. He decided to build on this fact.

"Amazed are we?" Malfoy sounded matter-of-factly.

"Not everyone in this whole world is pampered by their mummy and daddy." Hermione dropped her bags on the floor and walked towards the waterfall. A small pond swam on the bottom which held little fishes that seemed to be having the time of their life.

"True true." Draco made himself comfortable on one of the green couches towards his side of the room. It was very comfortable and he let his head rest back, trying to get the annoying ringing voice of Pansy out of his head. He found it impossible, and wondered how someone could talk non stop throughout a whole train journey. He shook his head slightly and decided to change his thoughts. He layed his eyes on what was around him at that moment. Hermione.

"Granger."

"Yes?" Hermione looked away from the waterfall and decided to focus her attention to something other than Malfoy. A small case of books was hidden in the corner, but she held her cry of relief and decided it would be better to read them later. For if she read them now, it would give her a reason to stay down there and be in the presence of the Prince of Slytherin.

Malfoy kept his gaze on Hermione and tried to distinguish exactly was made her so different from the other girls. Was it her hair, eyes, nose or mouth? He paid more attention to her mouth. It looked soft and … He was shot back to reality when Hermione's voice rang through the silence.

"I know I'm beautiful, but if you keep staring at me, I might almost think you like me." Hermione made sure she looked every where else except Malfoy. She picked up the bags she had left on the floor and led herself upstairs. After a couple of flights of stairs, she reached her room. It was absolutely beautiful. A huge window covered one of the walls which looked down towards the huge Lake. A double bed positioned itself across one of the walls and on the other side, a chest of drawers and a mirror looked towards her. She felt so relaxed. She had to admit, that sometimes she liked to be alone. It left her with her thoughts, and let her ponder freely about her opinions on some matters. It's not like she didn't like company, but she also like to have some alone time. She sat by her window for awhile, looking as far as the horizon would let her.

Malfoy climbed his steps slowly. As he entered the room, it came to no surprise to him. He was so use to this kind of stuff by now, and sometimes wished, that when he walked into a beautifully furnished room, he would be surprised at how rich and comfortable it was. He spread himself across his bed, and found himself in a very sticky spot. How was he, Draco Malfoy, the most well known Slytherin at Hogwarts, suppose to bind himself to one, who believes in keeping her distance from him.

"I mean, I wouldn't blame her." Malfoy said to himself. He shut his eyes and let his mind take over. "I need to think of a strategy." He had no idea where to start. His situation reminded him of something from a book. "What would I do, if I was in a book?" he thought to himself. "Book? Books? The library!" Malfoy felt like a genius. "Ron and Harry would rather drop dead than step into a library!" Malfoy smiled to himself. He didn't mind being in libraries. He found himself enough company to be around. Whenever he tried to start a normal conversation with Crabbe and Goyle, it seemed to him, that he would have more of a chance communicating with a Flubberworn. Crabbe and Goyle are some what similar to Ron and Harry. They'd rather clean toilets with a muggle toothbrush than even open a picture book.

"Malfoy!"

Malfoy jolted out of his day dream sleep to hear his name travelling up his staircase. Knowing it would only be one person, he got up and walked down stairs. He walked down to find a pyjama dressed Hermione. She wore a very thick green robe with light green long pants on the bottom.

"That colour suits you, I wonder why you weren't placed in Slytherin." Malfoy grinned to himself. One, it was due to his comment, and two, was the fact that he wasn't used to seeing a girl completely dressed at night. He was so used to seeing the Slytherin girls walking around in their skimpy little silky night dresses in the beginning of Winter. She was just so normal … so lady like…

"My parents don't know about our house colours." Hermione had small black rings under eyes. "Let's get this over and done with, I'm tired."

Malfoy smirked to himself. "I like a woman in charge." He began to take off his shirt.

"No!" Hermione looked away and blocked her eyes. "We've got to patrol the halls".

"I know. I was just joking!" Malfoy gave himself a laugh and walked towards to portrait whole. "Ladies first."

Hermione, finding no harm in walking through first, for she was fully clothed, slid through the portrait hole and stood outside waiting for Malfoy. He seemed to be taking his time. Hermione crossed her arms and tapped her foot loudly on the stone floors of the corridor. He finally stumbled through and stood right beside Hermione. She just realised how tall he had grown, and found herself shrinking at his tallness.

"Have you gone shorter?" asked Malfoy.

Hermione ignored his question once again, and started walking up the corridor.

"Can we get this over and done with?" Hermione's voice was tired, and Malfoy sensed this, and thought it would be quite mean to keep her from her beauty sleep. They walked silently through the halls, leaving the pitter patter of Malfoy's shoes and Hermione's thongs to talk to each other through the echoes. They passed the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw common rooms where there were no problems. When they reached the Gryfindor common room, Hermione began to feel sort of homesick, and was definitely not looking forward to spending the rest of the year with Malfoy. An envious feeling arose in her when she heard silent laughter coming from the inside of the common room. As they kept walking up, Hermione reached unfamiliar halls, but followed Malfoy close behind, for she knew she'd be heading towards the Slytherin common room. They finally reached a very cold part of the castle and Hermione found herself shivering a little. She looked towards Malfoy, but he seemed to be looking very normal, with his neatly gelled back hair, and smooth pale skin. She had always wondered why he was so pale. Maybe it was the food he was eating or something. She was shot out of her reverie by a now familiar voice. 

"I know I'm beautiful, but if you keep staring at me, I might almost think you like me." Came Malfoy's voice in a mocking Hermione tone.

Hermione gave a fake laugh and just followed his pace. They stopped in front of a door which seemed to be down towards the dungeons. "Trust the Slytherins to take flight near the dungeons" thought Hermione to herself.

"This is the Slytherin common room. I'm just going to quickly run in and have a little chat to an old friend. Wont be long." Malfoy walked over to the dungeon door and muttered the password.

"Oh great, now I have to wait in this creepy hall, just so you can 'talk to an old friend'". Hermione stifled a yawn and leant herself against the cold stone wall. She was so tired and felt like sleeping then and there. She felt herself sinking to the floor and could no longer keep her sleepy eyes open.  
"I'll just close them for five minutes." She told herself. Her eyes gently closed and her mind drifted off. Her dreams contained a wonderful library with a warm roaring fire burning on the side. Books filled the room from end to end and her eyes opened wide in amazement. All of a sudden, a giant book came flying down and started jabbing itself on her shoulder. She thought for a second that it was impossible for a book to do that, and realised she was dreaming, she decided to open her eyes and find the source of annoying pain that was jabbing her on her shoulder. She peeled one eye open and hit splat bottom to reality.

"What are you doing Malfoy?" Hermione held an annoyed tone in her voice, for she had found the source that had been jabbing into her shoulder, and it was Malfoy's finger. She was sleeping so peaceful. Except for the cold, and the very uncomfortable posture she was sitting like. She then realised where she was.

"Wake up you sleepy head."

"Took you bloody long enough!" Came a very irritated voice.

"I was only two minutes."

Malfoy put his hand out to help her up, but Hermione ignored it, and brought her sleepy self up with her own energy. She began to walk ahead, realising all the different hall arches that led in many different directions. She had no idea where to go. Malfoy let out a small laugh. She turned around to face him, and found him leaning so casually against the cold wall.

"Lost now are we?" drawled Draco.

Hermione was fed up with his little games. "Just hurry up and lead us to our dormitory." Hermione was so tired right now, she, herself let her rest against the wall. Her stomach gave out a loud growl, and memories from the feast came flooding back. She had barely eaten anything due to the fact of her nervousness of being introduced to the whole school. She never really liked so much attention drawn to herself. That's one of the main reasons why she never really could be bothered to do anything about her looks. She felt very weak at that moment and let herself slide down to the bottom of the floor once again that night. She shut her eyes slowly and began to feel her head pump a bit.

Realising that she was not acting, Draco strode hastily to her side and felt her forehead. She felt very cold, and he, himself could hear her stomach growling. She being a Gryffindor was probably not use to the cold atmosphere that seemed to penetrate every particle in the air.

He decided that she probably had no strength in her to walk back to their dormitory. So doing what any prince would do when his damsel was in distress, he picked her up and started walking at a leisurely pace. Hermione lay very still in his arms. "She's probably sleeping" he thought to himself. When he reached the entrance to their dorms, he said the password to the portrait and slid slowly through. Assuming she'd feel very uncomfortable and lost if she woke up in the morning on the couch, decided to take her upstairs to her bed. "I could get use to this" he thought to himself. He walked up the stairs and entered her red and gold room. The colours slightly hit him with quite a shock. He was so use to seeing the oh so common colours of green and silver, that the red and gold came to him like he had never seen colour before. He placed her gently on the bed and thought also that her very thick robe would be very uncomfortable to sleep in, he decided to take it off slowly so he wouldn't wake her.. He undid the lightly done knot, to reveal a dark coloured green singlet top underneath. Deciding that she was a proper lady, he closed the dressing gown back up, to not disturb her privacy. With that, he let himself take a quick glimpse of his sleeping beauty and took off slowly down the stairs.

"Amazing" he breathed to himself.


	5. The Argument

**Chapter 4 – The argument  
**  
Hermione awoke the next morning in a very comfortable bed. She opened her eyes slowly and felt the sun hit her straight away. She looked around the room and for some reason she couldn't really remember much about last night. She just assumed that she must have been that tired last night, she sleep walked the whole way back. She got dressed into her school robes and headed down to breakfast. The Great Hall was filling slowly with very sleepy pupils wandering half asleep. It was the first day back for classes, and Hermione couldn't wait to get started. She scanned the Gryfindor table and found Ginny eating a bowl of cereal, so Hermione took her normal seat next to her.

"So how's the Head Girl life huh?" Envy was slightly noticeable in her voice. Ginny preferred the much pampered life. Although her life at the moment wasn't oh so glorious, Hermione could tell that Ginny would be one to pull her family through. Hermione let out a small gruff grunt of some sort. Ginny couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "And how's Malfoy going?"

"The exactly same git as ever." Hermione wasn't in the mood for talking about Malfoy at that moment. She didn't realise how hungry she was and dug into the food like she hadn't eaten in a million years. The Great Hall was filling quite fast now. Ron and Harry were spotted at the entrance and slumped their tired selves over to Ginny and Hermione.

"Rough night?" Hermione looked at all their very tired faces.

"Err … Y-yeah …" Ron's voice sounded a bit uneasy, so Hermione just shrugged it off

In the middle of eating her third piece of toast, Ginny leant in towards Hermione. "Is it just me or …" Ginny's voice trailed off and looked towards the Slytherin table. Nearly all of the fifth and sixth years had their eyes looking towards the Gryfindor table. Hermione looked towards Malfoy, and she could feel his steel grey eyes sinking deep into hers. She shifted herself side to side and felt very uncomfortable at that moment. "There's something different about Draco…" She thought to herself. Just at that moment the bell rang for their first class. Hermione stood up almost straight away and headed for her first class, Muggle Studies. She always enjoyed Muggle Studies, it was so interesting to study something so natural to one, and see it from a different world's point of view. She picked up her bag and said good-bye to her friends. As she rounded the corner of the Great Hall, a now familiar voice stopped her to a halt.

"Professor McGonagall would like to see us." Hermione turned to find a very sleek Malfoy leaning against the stonewall. After a few minutes of staring at her up and down, Hermione came to a decision that she was safe at Hogwarts and he wouldn't be able to curse or hex her.

'Let him try' she thought to herself. She was now picturing over a hundred hexes she would like to try on him

He gave a nod of agreement and watched as Malfoy turned on his heel and walked back into the Great Hall. Hermione followed him and realised the Hall was now completely empty except for Professor McGonagall who awaited them at the end of the hall. As they walked up to her, she gave a stern smile.

"Once again, I'd like to congratulate you two again on becoming Heads of House. Due to your new responsibilities, we will need to discuss future events of this school. Your first class will have to wait." As Professor McGonagall looked towards Hermione, she saw that her face fell. "Don't worry Miss Granger, I have organised notes to be taken on your behalf, along with some extra work to be laid out for you when you return to your dormitory." Professor McGonagall gave a slight motherly smile, for most students would be ranting and ragging because of the extra work, but Hermione let out one of the biggest smile since she arrived at Hogwarts.

They then followed Professor McGonagall out of the hall into a smaller, yet very well decorated room. Banners of all sorts and party things hung from around the room, giving it a festival look. McGonagall gestured for them to take a seat, and Malfoy sat closer to Hermione than usual. 

"As you both now, the past years have been very mind blowing for everyone, including our families." Hermione looked down towards the ground, wandering what she meant when she said 'families'. Did it mean all the nights Hermione would awake to a nightmare where Voldemort would come and kill her family for once and all, for she knew one day, this was bound to happen.., Water started to swell up behind her eyes, but she pushed them back and paid all her attention to the Professor talking before her.

"This Christmas, we would like to shift everyone's mind off the tragic events of the present, and let us all relax. We will be holding a Christmas Ball." As Hermione repeated what the Professor had just said, her heart sank. She never found ball's interesting. Her last one had involved Viktor Krum. They had stopped their communication, for Krum was afraid his parents will find out about his relationship with a muggle-born. Hermione scowled to herself. She pushed her thoughts away once again and looked towards the Professor.

"This wont take too long. The house-elf here -" At that point a very familiar house-elf popped it's head out from behind the Professor. "Will organise everything, although, we have decided that the Head's should choose the arrangement of colours, for colour has become a big issue between house. Professor McGonagall looked at Malfoy's green and black robes, to Hermione's Red and Gold robes. With that, the Professor swooped out and left a nervous Hermione and a very close Malfoy.

"Hello Winky." Hermione's voice was calm and Winky looked up from all the coloured patches she was holding with in her arms.

"Hello Miss's and Sir's!" Her voice was still the very small and squeaky voice. Hermione smiled. She looked a lot better than last time she had met with the elf. Through out the first half an hour, was so stressing and Hermione didn't realise how much colours went into making a ball. After everything was chosen, the house elf left with a faint pop, leaving just Hermione and Malfoy. Hermione began to stand up to leave, but she felt a very strong hand land on her wrist.

"Leaving so soon? We've got about another half an hour before classes end." Malfoy smirked to himself. His steel grey eyes searched Hermione's face for an expression of disapproval, but to his surprise, she shook his arm off and sat back down.

"People change Herm -" Malfoy stopped in mid word. "People change Granger."

"So you're saying you've changed? Changed for what?" Hermione gave a little laugh. She looked towards Malfoy, but he kept the same face expression. It was a serious look, and he just kept looking directly at her, with no movement, he wasn't even blinking. Hermione decided to change her gaze. She couldn't believe that she was actually having this conversation with him. She looked around the room again, and tried counting all the different colours in the room she had never seen before. She got up to fifteen when Malfoy decided to speak.

"I'm saying, I'm not the same. Have you noticed I haven't called you mudbl -" Malfoy stopped again. "I haven't called you that for awhile .." He trailed off, and fixed his gaze to something other than Hermione. He decided to let her swim among her thoughts and memories for a moment.

"So your saying, your no longer the arrogant, conceited, vain and superior Malfoy that I've know for nearly seven years now?" Hermione looked directly at Malfoy with a very confused look. Malfoy looked at her too, and felt that he was finally getting somewhere until –

"Yeah, right, and I'm not a muggle born!" Hermione began to laugh so loud, holding her stomach in because she was laughing so much. Tears began to run down her cheeks. Malfoy just looked at her. She had definitely changed since he first saw her in their first year. She had grown her hair much longer, and no longer stayed it's frizzled self, for it's length kept it heavy and straight. Her teeth were perfect for her smile, which lifted her eyes to an innocent pose.

"And so what if you've changed? What do you really want? How much are you betting your friends to try and get to me?" Hermione's expression then changed to a steely look that looked nearly like Draco's. "Let me tell you now Malfoy, take this as a threat or even a compliment, but if you dare try and mess up my last year at Hogwarts, I will definitely show you what a 'mudblood' can do." Hermione's eyes were cold as they glared directly at her prey.

"Hermione." Her name rang through the silence. She looked at Malfoy with a very perplexed expression on her face. All her time at Hogwarts she was always been know to Malfoy by 'Granger'. Malfoy kept looking at her. "What I'm trying to say, is that, you're a very intelligent person. I mean, that is very rare for a 7th year girl at Hogwarts." Hermione gave off a jokingly laugh. She couldn't believe she was having the conversation with Malfoy, and for some reason, wasn't sure why.

"If you don't mind, I must be going." Hermione stood up and left a lonely Malfoy sitting comfortably on the couch. She left the room. She, then and there, made another promise to herself. "Stay as far away from Malfoy as possible." She kept walking up the empty corridor up to the Great Hall for some lunch. She was starting to feel very hungry. She began to hear running footsteps behind her, and swung herself around. She was faced with a very pale Malfoy.

"Look Hermione."

"Don't call me that." Snapped Hermione with a strong tone to her voice to show her ground. She also made sure she looked directly into his grey eyes so show she wasn't afraid and held all the confidence in the world.

"Ok… Hermione" Malfoy was just getting on her nerves now. Hermione, remembering her promise she had just made minutes ago, decided not to break it. She kept on walking. She suddenly felt a very strong hand land on her shoulder which made her stop. Malfoy turned her around and was now holding both of her shoulders so she had no way of escape. She wished just now, that the bell for classes to end would go off, but she knew they all had another ten minutes of sitting in class. Anger was boiling every particle in her body. Forcing herself to look up to his eyes, tried searching for an answer for his actions. She had trouble though for he was very tall, and wished now, that she, for the first time in her life, was not head girl.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Her voice had a little more panic than she hoped for.

"Draco." Malfoy looked deep into her big brown eyes. He seemed to lose himself in them, her eyes held everything he yearned for.

"Excuse me?" Malfoy was shot out of his reverie.

"Call me Draco. I'm sure two young adults like ourselves hold the manner of calling each other by our first names. We should no longer play such childish games." His voice was sleek and calm.

"Ok Mal-Draco … Do you mind unhanding me right this moment?"

"Do I have too?" Malfoy smiled to himself.

Hermione, not able to take this any longer pushed him as hard as she could, managing only for him to step back once.

"Hermione, I'm only trying to be nice here. What, are you to good for everyone now huh?" Anger was also starting to boil in Draco, which made Hermione cower back just a little. She didn't like being in a lonely corridor with just herself and Malfoy.

"Excuse me MALFOY, what gives YOU the nerve to insult me, the injured party on your behalf. YOU'RE the one who always felt he was better than everyone else, so don't start turning me into the monster here!" Hermione couldn't keep her voice down. She was so unsure, how one person like Malfoy, could get on her nerves so much.

"Well you're the Miss-Know-It-All who seems to think you know the answers to everything." Malfoy also couldn't keep his voice down. He had been trying so hard to try and be nice to Hermione, but all she did was push him back to square one.

"Well unlike you MALFOY, I am able to admit my mistakes, take it on board and LEARN." Hermione then stormed off, outraged. She left a heavy breathing Malfoy standing in the corridor.

"Great!" he muttered to himself. "Just what I need." He walked towards the Great Hall, cursing to himself, and wondering what to do next.

Hermione's day went extremely fast, and was so happy to hear the dinner bell ring. Every time her mind started to drift towards her argument with Malfoy, she made sure she would push it aside, remembering her promise, that she was not going to let him ruin her last year at Hogwarts. As she sat in her usual seat next to Ginny, she looked up at Ron and Harry. They looked very pale, and very dark black rings hung under their eyes. 

"Are you guys ok?" Hermione showed concern in her voice, but for some reason, they avoided eye contact.

"Yeah fine!" Harry had held a very fake note in his voice, but also showed that nothing was wrong. Hermione went back to eating, and just thought that maybe they lacked some sleep. After dinner, she said goodnight to her friends and led herself up to her dorm. She was hoping she wont be able to see any bit of Malfoy. She quickly said the password to the portrait and rushed up the stairs to her dorm, before Malfoy was able to make it down the stairs to see her. When she reached her dorm, she shut the door and put several locking spells to stop anyone else from entering. As she placed everything down on the floor and was just about to plonk herself on the bed when something caught her eye. On the middle of her bed there layed a single rose. It was quite different from any normal red roses, for it's petals were mixed with a pure white and light gray. It was the most beautiful rose she had ever seen. There was also a letter attached to it. She picked up the letter, and it had neatly sprawled running writing across it, simply saying "I'm sorry." Hermione looked at it for awhile. She knew straight away that it was from Malfoy and pondered how much courage it must have took him to actually right the word 'Sorry'.


	6. Drowning

**Chapter 5 - Drowning**

Deciding what to do about the rose , she thought that this was some sort of sick joke, and that some bad outcome would come out of this if she accepted this 'apology', but all the same, she couldn't let something so beautiful shrivel up and die, so she found a vase and filled it up with a little bit of water. After admiring the flower for some time, she decided to go and take a relaxing bath to sooth through her thoughts and organise them. She picked up her red bath robe and towel and headed towards the Heads bathroom. She knew it was somewhere near the prefects bathroom because she heard McGonagall say something like this when she wasn't really paying much attention. As she walked through the halls, she reached a door, which she assumed must have been the heads bathroom. She was unsure of the password, but if she remembered rightly, McGonagall didn't give them one. As she walked up to the portrait which had another 2 young students, all they did was look at her and let the door slide open. As she walked through, the sight before was magnificent. A huge bath was positioned in the middle of the room, and lightly dim lights hung all around the sides, giving it a faint look about the room. I nice scent of strawberry's hovered around the room, relaxing Hermione. She walked up to the edge of the bath and dipped her toe into the water. It was unbelievably perfect. The water suited her body temperature just right. Excited about jumping into the water, for she hadn't really had a bath since she was a young child, stripped her bath robe and was left with a pair of bathing swimmers on. She didn't feel comfortable yet about swimming naked in a bath she had to share with her enemy. Although her swimmers were a little revealing, she didn't mind, as long as she wasn't strutting herself around the school, her mind stayed sane. After quickly jumping into the water, she let herself relax, she doggy paddled herself to the deep end, and let the back of her head sink into the water, leaving herself floating. She closed her eyes, and it was the most relaxing thing she had enjoyed since returning to Hogwarts.

Malfoy entered the heads bathroom, making sure there was a decent distance between him and Hermione. He wasn't exactly following her … Just keeping an eye out. As he slowly walked in, he already saw Hermione floating on top of the bath water with a pair of white swimmers on. 'White matches her' he thought to himself. He then shook his head hard and felt quite embarrassed for staring at her for so long. He, too, stripped his clothes off and was left with a pair of shorts on. He dunked himself slowly into the water, trying as hard to not to make the tranquil water stir. Being as tall as he was, he was able to move towards the deep section with out taking his feet off the ground. He was still amazed that he was able to travel this far in the bath towards Hermione, with out her noticing. When he was just inches away from her, he looked just at her face, for he felt, if he shifted his gaze lower, he would be unable to control his actions. Her face was so calm, and was as smooth as ever that he couldn't resist. He wanted to just touch her. Feel how smooth her skin felt, but thought of her reaction, if she was to open her eyes, with her worst enemy caressing his cheek. He had to think fast, for any moment now she would open her eyes. He tried deciding the best method to handle this situation. He thought, that maybe if he sort of got her attention first, she wouldn't go as ballistic.

"Ah-hem!" Malfoy made sure that he made it loud enough, though not to loud to wake up the whole school. He looked at her for just a few minutes, and still, she didn't move. He decided on his next best tactic. He didn't want to seem like he was desperate for her to notice him there, so he wanted to still sound his cool higher self, so he … poked her, really hard on the shoulder. What happened next wasn't exactly what he was expected.

Hermione's eyes opened wide to see Malfoy looking directly at her. A smirk was singing across his face. She was so shocked that she forgot she was at the deep end. She made to stand up, only to sink down into the water. She damned the fact that she was so short. As she surfaced the water, she coughed the excess water that had entered her mouth while she was in shock. She looked at Malfoy, who was just standing there so calm.

"Did you get my apology?" Malfoy smiled. It was half evil, but half good at the same time. Hermione decided to keep her defences up, lately he had been making her feel very awkward whenever he was around, like he was always watching and examining her. She was treading water at the moment and was starting to get a huge stitch on one of her sides.

"Yes, I did." Hermione was starting to huff from the tiredness and the stitch. "Thank – you – very – much." She said this in between huffs, but Draco also notices some dullness in her voice. The rose he had given her was a trademark of the Malfoy Manor, it was covered in these silvery white roses, to show purity and a sturdy family.

"I'm glad you liked it!" All the same, Malfoy gave a proud smile.

Hermione started to get very, very tired. She tried to swim towards the shallow end of the bath so she could leave, but Malfoy stopped right in front of her. She tried the other side, but Malfoy trapped her again.

"Why is it, every time your around me, you try to escape? It's not like I'm going to hurt you or anything." Malfoy raised one eyebrow up, honestly questioning her. Hermione looked at him. Seeing that he held no suspicious tone is his voice, the panic that had begun to build up loosened ever so slightly.

"Why have you been following me?" The stitch on Hermione's side worsened, and wasn't sure how long she was able to hover in the water.

"Following? I have not been following." Malfoy looked away, slightly embarrassed.

"What has gotten into you?" Hermione was finding it harder to speak.

"Like I said. Things change, situations are different now ..." Malfoy looked towards Hermione. Her face looked very tired, and noticed that she was having trouble treading the water.

"What situations?" Hermione decided she wanted to get as much information out as possible, ignoring the excruciating pain on her side. Hermione waited for an answer, but none came. It seemed that Draco was caught in thought, having a mental debate with himself.

Hermione couldn't stand the pain any longer. She tried to exit again, but failed once again by the overpowering Malfoy.

"Do you mind moving?" Hermione was very tired. Her head was nearly completely under the water, except for the surface of her face, that let her breathe.

Malfoy sniggered to himself. Realising the situation, his old sharp self came back. "Struggling are we?" Hermione glared at him with a deadly look. "You have two options Hermione," She glared at him harder after hearing her name being mentioned. He put more emphasis on her name, and felt that he was not worthy enough of saying it. She could tell he was enjoying this tormenting situation.

Hermione looked towards her bathrobe where she also had laid her wand. "If I had my wand on me -" Hermione started talking through gritted teeth, before Malfoy interrupted.

"My dear Hermione, but you don't." He gave himself an obnoxious laugh. Hermione stayed quiet, not because she felt that she had to because of Malfoy's tormenting, but because she now had no energy to speak, she was saving it for the doggy paddle back. "I'm not letting you pass until we get a few things straight. We need to talk … Decently. Like I said, you have two options," Draco looking directly at Hermione's struggling face. "You can float where you are now," Draco looked down through to transparent water. Hermione seeing this scowled. She never liked it when guys looked at women as an object. The word 'pervert' was running around her mind. That was definitely out of the question. She wouldn't want to put her body through such an embarrassing situation – Her worst known enemy, looking upon her body with hunger. "Or -" Draco smiled the biggest smile ever while stepping a bit closer to her. Hermione was struggling more then ever. Her head kept dunking down under the water. She looked towards Malfoy, who was just staring back at her like nothing was happening out of the normal. She felt like she was almost drowning, and loathed Malfoy so much that he wouldn't even help her. "Hold me." Malfoy's voice was very quiet, but looked directly at Hermione, waiting for her decision. 'Blackmail' she thought to herself. She couldn't stand it any longer. Her arms and legs began to stop flapping under the water. She was just to stubborn, and tired to think right now. She shut her eyes blocking out everything around her. Her head was completely under the water. Although under water, she felt her eyes begin to sting, she didn't want this to happen. She just wished Malfoy would leave her alone. She felt her body falling to the bottom of the deep bath. She couldn't believe this was happing to her. After dreading the worst, she suddenly felt two strong hands grip under her arms. She felt herself bring brought back up to the top. When she felt the air hit her face, she coughed severely and she swung her arms around Malfoy's neck, begging for the air. As much as she hated touching Malfoy, she had no other option left, but for him to hold her up with support. Her head rested on the groove of his shoulder and neck, with her arms hooked around his neck as well. Her body felt as though it had been drained of every bit of energy.

Malfoy held her tight, supporting her up, guilt was running through him. He never intended on her drowning herself. Questions were running through his head. 'Does she hate me that much, she'd rather drown, then even touch me?' he thought to himself. Hermione gave another cough, and he patted her back with shame.

"I'm sorry … I didn't mean for that to happen … I swear …" Malfoy's voice kept trailing off. He was extremely sorry. He just couldn't get over how much this girl could hate him. There was no answer. He gently lifted up her head from his shoulder and realised that she was sleeping. "Bloody hell, I hope she's just sleeping' he thought to himself. He wouldn't know what to do, if he hadn't of picked her up from the bottom of the bath. He began to walk towards the shallow end gently stroking Hermione's back. He wasn't really sure what to do, or whether he should go to the Hospital wing or not. As he got out, he placed Hermione very softly on one of the comfortable chairs that were near the exit. He picked up his dark green towel and started to dry her hair. This realised this was probably the first time he actually had bodily contact with this girl for 7 years. After pondering about this for awhile, and her hair nearly completely dry, he picked up his want, and put a drying spell on her. She slept on peacefully, not moving at all, and Malfoy had to check to see if she was breathing, for he was starting to get very paranoid. He decided that he didn't want to take her to the Hospital Wing, because he wouldn't know what to say to Madame Pomprey. On the whole, he decided to take her up to her room, like he had a couple of nights ago.

As he picked up all her belongings, and all of his, he swung it all around his shoulder so he could put all his effort into holding Hermione. He put one hand across her back and one across the bottom of her knees and headed off to their dormitory. Guilt was still running through his whole body, and he wasn't even sure if she would forgive him for it. As he neared their dormitory, he said the password and walked through. When he reached Hermione's bedroom, he placed her gently on the bed. He placed a couple of covers over her to keep her warm, and checked one more time to see if she was breathing, just in case.

Malfoy looked at her once more, and in his mind, apologised for his actions of the night. And with that, he walked away, not looking back like he would usually, for the guilt had risen to a high.


End file.
